A Voltron sci-fi short
by MAntal
Summary: A Short story exploring what would happen if some of the events in the show had real physical world consequences. It's focusing on the Scifi elements of the show.


The paladins of Voltron were in awe. After finally forming Voltron, just before the cosmic storm hit them, Lance and Keith managed to form a wing, shooting the robot through space at light speed.

Seconds later,the sight in front of them was something utterly unexpected. The Milky Way galaxy!

"This is it, our Solar system!" - Pidge cried out in joy.  
"Pidge...this is not the Solar system, this is our galaxy...but you're right, we're almost home!" Said Lance, but Hunk defenced Pidge -"com'on man, Pidge's might be a genius, but she's 16. After his family disappeared when she was around forteen, she stopped studying properly, it's no surprise she lacks common knowledge! She just needs time. She's already a great engineer!"

"Okay okay, just saying"- said lance  
"Well, let's go then, to Earth!"

The giant robot shot out again with lightspeed, towards the point where the radars indicated the Solar system. They were slowing down after reaching Jupiter, but Pidge was suddenly worried.  
"Guys...where's Mercury? And what's with the Sun's brightness? It's like…  
Oh my god! It's a Dyson swarm!"

The present Alteans were all confused- "a what?" -Asked Allura and Coran in chorus.

"A dyson swarm is a cloud of satellites in stable orbit around a star, using the star's energy output to power a civilisation. It's a physically possible version of a Dyson sphere, named after Dr. Freeman Dyson who lived way back in the XX. century." Hunk explained.

Coran brightened up "Oh we had those..as in... grandfather was actually one of the scientists proposing building one! I had no idea you Earthlings had the technology to make one. And in such a short amount of time"

"We don't." said Lance  
"This is worrying..and confusing"

Pidge nodded- "yeah and that explains the lack of Mercury, they must've used up that planet to build the swarm. Are we late...is the Garla here?"

Shiro stood up- "okay paladins, stay focused. We don't know what's going on, but we shouldn't panic, we'll find out what's going on"

Lance was growing more restless, visible anxious "guys, Keith hurry up, I don't like this! If my family is in danger I don't want to waste any time!"  
"Lance wait"- said pidge-" look at the spectral signature of Mars. It suggests artificial light and vegetation.  
The Sun is also brighter than it supposed to be, even with the swarm around it. Something's definitely wrong here"

Hunk gasped- "guys, I don't want to make things worse, but the star constellations are wrong too. But this is our solar system no question, and the scanners indicate we are approaching Earth! I don't understand what's going on!"

"Earth is in the view" -said Keith"  
"I put it on the screen"

The sight of Earth was shocking.  
No Garla cruisers around it...but countless cylinder shaped objects- probably space habitats- around it. The planet itself was partially covered with several layers of spheres. How they were stabilised baffled the Paladins.  
There were also many dozens of huge spikes sticking out of the planet- space elevators.  
The Moon was nowhere to be seen.

"What...what is going on" Said Lance, on the verge of crying. He dreamt about this day for so long, coming home, to see his family once more. But home was utterly unrecognisable.

Suddenly a bright flash happened- and they were all on a white plane. Blue skies, white puffy clouds, and some odd, couch like sitting objects.

"Greetings" a voice was heard from an indeterminable direction.

The Paladins activated their bayards  
"Show yourself!" Lance shouted.

"There's no need for weapons-you are home" said the voice- and their bayards disappeared.

Then a creature materialised in front of them.  
It had two long arms, with one too many joints- odd distribution of muscles, no clothes, long oddly bended legs, a huge head, no lips, it's teeth seemed like they've melted together, no nose, disturbingly big irises. They were all taken aback. It looked somewhat human, but was very unsettling.

"We've been waiting for you. We've been waiting for you for a very, very long time indeed."  
The creature's mouth was not moving, but they all heard the voice.

Keith stepped forward- who are you...Are you with the Garla? What happened to our home?!"

"Don't worry, the Galra are gone. You're home. But I have bad news. Please, sit down"  
More sofas materialised behind them.

Romelle leaned in to Allura- "this is definitely the weirdest adventure I was part of. Is it always like this?"  
"Pretty much" grinned Allura.

"Please, we need answers" said Lance in a desperate voice  
"Are our families alright?"

The creature looked around.  
"Very well then. It's quite a lot to take in, please sit down.  
We've been tracking you, and knew exactly when you'll arrive. You are precious relics from the past."

"RELICS?!" Shouted Lance.

"Yes" the creature said  
"You've used the Altean magic in your robot to attain near lightspeed velocities.  
You've arrived to the Solar system from a galaxy 300 million light years away.  
WITHOUT using a wormhole. Do you know what hat means? "

Pidge's eyes widened  
"Oh no…"

The creature nodded  
"Yes. I'm afraid you've been traveling with lightspeed for over 360 million years.  
Of course you've only experienced a few minutes in your Voltron robot."

Lance jumped up "No! This is a trick! I mean ...No way…"

"And who are you?" Hunk asked.

"Oh we are humans...or at least their descendants "

Allura looked at the human creature-  
"But is that even possible? What happened to Honerva? The Garla? The Universe needed Voltron!"

"Oh Senak was sent to Earth and Colonised it. Almost destroyed it, using as a trap for Voltron, but Voltron never came. He went on to be a Garlan Emperor and managed to kill Honerva- who , with the interference of Sendak and his army, could never do big harm. "

Shiro sighed "So what happened to the Garla empire?"

"Oh it held to its power for 50 000 more years, then it was destroyed from the inside.  
It came back, for a few dozen times over the next million years though. The remaining Alteans moved on to live in a distant galaxy. But they've all changed over the millions of years.  
Even us humans. After the Garla empire collapsed, we regained our strength. Went on colonising the local arm of the galaxy, then the whole galaxy, then the Andromeda galaxy.

Humans on the colonies , thanks to the vast distance, even with our own wormhole technology, started to diverge from the main branch of the human species. Now there are over 86 000 human species over the are humans living in planet cores, Hydrogen clouds in space, on atmosphereless planets around magnetars and so on. We've seen wars, destruction of complete star systems, long periods of peace, it's impossible to tell all. After all, you are from the time where the human history was just a few thousand years old. Now it's almost 400 000 000."

Lance started tearing up "So….does that mean...our families, are they all gone?"

"I'm afraid so. Even planet Earth was disassembled 215 million years ago, but archeologists managed to rebuild it 67 million years later, realising the historical value of the species home planet. And you- you are living fossils. From an ancient, almost forgotten time"

"So...are we still going to be a defender of the universe?" Hunk asked.

"Oh there's no need to." the creature answered

"We have the power to destroy whole galaxies at this point. There was a groundbreaking experiment just a few hundred thousand years ago, scientists tried to make a new multiverse. The data is still coming in, but it looks like a success. Thanks to our biomechanical implants , and genetic engineering, we can create matter with our minds. Your robot, Voltron is something even a kid can create with pure thought.  
You are nothing in this time and age.  
But you have invaluable historic value, and are also independently from that- our guests. We can recreate your families from your memories- but it won't be the real thing.  
But I assure you, you can have a happy life from now on. We have one request though.  
We'd like to record your memories, as it contains a lot of priceless information about ancient history."

Lance swiped his tears from his face, and took a big breath- "you were right...it's a lot to take in"  
Pidge, with her eyes turning red from crying, tried to act collected- "I'm interested in your robot technology, but we….we'll need a grieving period first. Matt...Dad...my whole family is gone. Everyone I knew"

Coran stood up-" If you don't mind, We'd like to contact the ALtean descendants. We have much to learn from each other, I'm sure of it. I'm interested how the new, peaceful future Altea is like."

"You are definitely free to go, and explore this new world. But please, consider talking to our historians and scientists first. It won't take much time."

"Thank you! Will do!" Coran smiled.

Lance put his hand on Keith shoulders. He's never seen him cry before.  
"I'm sorry buddy."  
Keith looked up- "I just found my mom and now...she's gone.I'm sorry Lance, I know your family is gone too I'm just. I feel like Voltron was a curse. It didn't save the universe after all...but took our families away. What was the point?"

Hunk looked at them "hey, we defeated Zarkon! Who knows what would've happened with him in power for another thousand years. We fought. We've saved whole planets, remember! I miss my family too. But we fought against tyranny, and it might be minuscule in timescales of the universe, it was worth it, I believe it."

Lance smiled "You've become quite the diplomat , Hunk"  
"We should stay together guys" Shiro said.  
"Our families are gone, but we have each other. Let's explore this world together"  
They've all nodded. Their journey just begun.


End file.
